Who's Laughing Now? - Gull-billed Terns

During the summer of 1818, German ornithologist Wilhelm Schilling was visiting an island in the Baltic Sea. Out of nowhere came a small flock of seabirds he didn’t recognize. He captured one, but the fortunate others escaped. Schilling later told his friend and colleague, Ludwig Brehm, that the rest of the flock had shot up high into the air, where their laughing calls seemed to mock him. Today, we know the mystery bird as the Gull-billed Tern. Brehm eventually gave it the scientific name Gelochelidon, which translates literally as “the laughing sea-swallow.” But it also commemorates, with just a touch of humor, the triumph of those lucky ones that got away.

Written by Rick WrightThis is BirdNote.It was the early summer of 1818, and the German ornithologist and collector, Wilhelm Schilling, was walking the beach on an island in the Baltic Sea.[Lesser black-backed gull, ML 103420, 00:46 ff.]Out of nowhere came a small flock of seabirds he didn’t recognize.[Gull-billed Tern, ML 26375, 00:04 ff.]This being 1818 and Schilling being a good museum man, he decided to secure the birds for the university collection in Greifswald [GRYYfs-valt]. He captured one, but the fortunate others sped off on pointed white wings. Schilling later told his friend and colleague, Ludwig Brehm [BRAYM], that the rest of the flock had shot up high into the air, where their laughing calls seemed to … well … mock him. The story seems to have amused Brehm, because today, we know the mystery bird as the Gull-billed Tern. Brehm eventually gave it the scientific name Gelochelidon [GEE-lo-KEE-li-don]*. [Gull-billed tern, ML 26375, 01:53 ff.]Which translates literally as “the laughing sea-swallow.” And refers to the weird nasal muttering, quacks, and cackles that Gull-billed Terns issue, as they swoop low over the water in search of prey. [Gull-billed tern, ML 26375, 03:36 ff.]But it also commemorates, with just a touch of humor, the triumph of those lucky ones that got away, that summer day in 1818, on the Baltic Sea. For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.